Hana - The Lotus, Gazing into the Myth, Meditative Hues and more..

NEWS

Hana - The Lotus

( Work by Yuriko Ando Lochan)

India International Centre, New Delhi, presents a solo show titled, ‘Hana- The Lotus’. The show displays thew works of artist Yuriko Ando Lochan. Lotus is the central theme of the lyrical works on display as the lotus captures the hearts of people, as a representation of life. It has the connotation of the view on life based on the concept of eternal change.

The artist successfully merges in the works, the two enriching cultures that have influenced her, Indian and Japanese, where India is the primal source of human culture and Japan of refined sensibilities of her origin, together forming an soulful body of work.

The show will be inaugurated by H E Takeshi Yagi, Ambassador of Japan in India, and Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, Chairperson IIC- asia project.

The show previews on 25th March 2014 at 6: 30 pm and is on view till 1st April 2014.

Meditative Hues

(work on display)

Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi presents a solo show of paintings titled, ‘Meditative Hues’.

Artist Niti Jain shows her meditative abstracts in this show. There has been a marked evolution in her work. 

For her previous show, she had created abstracts with vibrant bold colors, vigorous strokes and pronounced brush stroke. 'Meditative Hues' in contrast is a calmer rendition with a subtlety that speaks of an inherent spirituality.

The show is on view till 27th March 2014.

Gazing into the Myth

(Work by Jayasri Burman)

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore and Ruchika Anand present a solo show of paintings by eminent artist Jayasri Burman. The works are displayed in the show titled, ‘Gazing into the Myth’. 

The exquisite and intricate works portray figures and interconnected stories from nuances of mythology and history. The narratives dominate the distinct style that the artist employ presenting to the viewer a tapestry of colour, beauty and folk lore.

The show is to be held at the Visual Art Centre, Hong Kong and previews on 19th March from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

The show is on view till 23rd March 2014.

The charm of still life

( Work by Puja Sethi)

Beanstalk, Gurgaon presents an art show by artist Puja Sethi. Puja Sethi is trained in fine arts at Columbia University and the Art students league of New York. 

Presently her area of work is realism and naturalism in art using oil, watercolor and diverse drawing media.

The show displays some exquisite still life paintings and her skill in portraitures. With vibrant colours and skill of rendition, the works on display traverse a large variety of subjects.

The show is on view till 21st March 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

When East meets West

A joint exhibition of paintings by Victoria A.M. and Wilhelm Bronner depicts the meeting of cultures

(Artist Victoria A.M with one of her paintings. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat)

Victoria A.M.’s ‘Moonshade’ tells the story of a baby girl at birth, traces her growth into childhood and womanhood, through the joys and sorrows of life, intertwining it with the metaphor of a river’s lifeline. Much like life’s unexpected turns, dangers lurk within the river’s beauty too. The painting, dominated by two women resting beneath jasmine flowers, is inspired by Victoria’s 2006 poem on Indian villages that told of the unspoken sadness of flowers whose nectar has been stolen by bees at dusk. “A woman’s life in this world is like that too; the small ‘sadness’es of her being go unseen,” she says. ‘Moonshade’ is on display at ‘East Meets West’, an exhibition of Victoria’s works with those of German artist Wilhelm Bronner.

Just across the room stands Wilhelm’s installation of 20 pairs of wooden squares each marked with ‘E’ and ‘W’ on its corners. Two peers figure in each pair, one representing the Indian side of things and the other, the German side. For instance, while the German uses his umbrella against the rain, the Indian shields himself from the sun. “I plan to take this exhibition to Germany too. So, for the Indians here, this is an introduction to our culture, and for the Germans, it’s an introduction to India,” he says.

(Artist Wilhelm Bronner with one of his paintings. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat)

Wilhelm and Victoria met in 2013, through a common friend, at Victoria’s Mattancherry studio while Wilhelm was here for the Biennale last March. Victoria had earlier been introduced to German culture through an exhibition of her works in Berlin in 2011, held as a fundraiser for Adivasi girls. Wilhelm has been to India six times in the last 40 years. The two decided to collaborate on an art show that would depict the meeting of Indian and German cultures. ‘East Meets West’ features four of Wilhelm’s pieces, besides the installation, and six by Victoria — two oils and four acrylic-on-canvasses.

The meeting of cultures is best seen in Wilhelm’s ‘The Indian City’, done only in red, black and white. It is his artistic impression of traffic in big Indian cities where buses, auto rickshaws and cars manoeuvre between bikes, cows and dogs, in a chaotic confusion that somehow functions. “I was overwhelmed by the sound and noise of India when I first came, and this shows my experience of it as just an outsider’s observations, not judgements.” In the central three pieces, ‘East-West faces’, a pair of eyes looks out of each quadrant of the square paintings, and hands reach out from one side to the other in friendship, symbolic of the mutual connection between cultures. “I want to show that though we have different social behaviours and politics, we are above all human and connected to the world.”

Victoria’s paintings reflect her education in Shankaracharya’s teachings, and explore humankind’s relationship with this earth. ‘Shell collectors’ and ‘Little land and even less water’ deal with the struggles of everyday living; the first depicts women collecting shells for income, and the second shows women searching for water. ‘Past and Present’ expounds the idea further saying that regardless of race, all our bodies return to the soil once the soul leaves. Two women separate the canvas, the first wholly human, the second made of mud with birds shooting out of her eyes. “Both are self portraits,” says Victoria. The exhibition is on till March 16.

(Report by Esther Elias for The Hindu)

Aravallis- From hills to apartments, Life Inspired and more..

NEWS

Aravallis - From hills to apartments

Alliance Francaise de Delhi, Gurgaon is hosting a group photography show, ‘Aravallis – From hills to apartments’, showcasing the works of Vinit Gupta, Cara Louwman, Vicky Roy and Marianne Van Loo.

The exhibition showcases the perspectives of four photographers and their reactions to the changing landscapes of Gurgaon. These landscapes are manifestations of the processes of modernisation and growth, in consonance with its image of a millennium city. The images are artistic portrayals of the economic and social impact on the polity and fabric of a city in the making.

The show is on view till 5th April 2014.

Life Inspired

( Work on display)

Aalankritha Art Gallery, Hyderabad invites all the art lovers for a really enriching experience at an art exhibition. The painting exhibition features the works of three young and immensely talented artists, Avinash Basu, MS Vasu and Nirmal Karmakar.

The show is titled, ‘Life Inspired’ and will be on view till 15th March 2014.

Shades of Women

( Work on display)

Gallery Space, Hyderabad presents a show titled,‘Shades of Women’ an international group exhibition of paintings, sculpture, print, photography. The participating artists are Anjolei Ela menon, Anupam Sood, Arpana Caur, Seema Kohli, Jaya Baheti, Ambreen, Poonam Chandrika, Usha Mishra, Rohini Reddy, Sneha Latha, Deepanath, Geetha, Tripti Dave, Sravanthi Juluri, Sarswathi, Lopa Mudru, Lona Logan, Rangoli Garg and others.

The show displays women centric themes by male and female artists. 

The show is on view till 23rd March 2014.

Exploring nuances of Oil painting

The Art Loft, Mumbai presents ‘Exploring Nuances of Oil Painting’ an invite to art enthusiasts to dabble in oil painting and explore its nuances with French artist Soazic Guezennec. Soazic lives and works in Mumbai and usually blends a poetic vision with a sense of threat in her works. She has been acknowledged and appreciated for her ecological sensibility that reflects in most of her creative works.

In the workshop, participants can explore the nuances and techniques of oil painting. You can also bring along the work of an artist you admire and Soazic will guide you to create your own interpretations inspired by their work. Her classes and way of teaching are intended to make the student independent and fearless in exploring their own path.

The workshop is on till 25th March 2014.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Artist Nandita Kumar Explains Her Trippy New Show At Lakeeren Gallery

Nandita Kumar’s show Let THe bRAinFly is a mind trip and not only because of the awkward spelling of the title (“I do all my titling slightly dyslexic because I’m slightly dyslexic,” she says). There are the titular brainflies, literally brains with wings, that flit across the gallery walls of Lakeeren in Colaba, where this show is taking place; clouds of drain covers that hang from the ceiling; and canvases that leak bug-like creatures that on closer inspection turn out to be livers and legs and other errant body parts. “Letting the brain fly symbolises freedom of thought,” says Kumar, an Auckland- and Mumbai-based artist, who was born in Africa, and who made her way to our city via Austria, where she spent a year living on an organic beef farm. This work, she says, is an attempt to bring together various strains of thought – of living on a metaphorical plane without losing track of reality; of embracing our masculine and feminine sides; of understanding sexuality; of living in the present; and of navigating life with an acute awareness of both mind and body. “Your true journey starts when you’re ready for an adventure,” says Kumar, who took us through this complex work and explained what it all means.

“When I migrated to New Zealand, I began analysing what I was experiencing, Carl Jung calls it the process of individuation,” says Kumar who has degrees in painting and experimental animation and filmmaking from universities in California, New Zealand and India. This wall of heads, called Assembly Line Emo, is she says all the emotions one experiences in the process of figuring things out – fear, guilt, pain – and the personas we adopt – the finger pointer, the listener, the tripper. Just out of frame in the lower right corner are tiny brains in wheelchairs, which Kumar says are symbolic of the process of evolution, “that at some point the brain has to get out of the wheelchair”.

Neuron Scape, says Kumar, is evocative of Ardhanarishvara, that is, the joint male and female figure of Shiva and Parvati. “If you don’t respect the feminine power, you can’t respect the masculine.” Kumar’s works frequently transgress the traditional barrier, not just metaphorically, but also literally, which is why these works flow off the canvas completely.

Titled aptly The Orgy of the Organs, these sea creature-like specimens are actually just body parts – breasts, spinal cords, teeth cavities, tongues, just a great mass of organs that appear to float off the canvas and towards the ceiling. “It’s about loving everything to do with the body,” says Kumar.

The all seeing third eye bobs in an ocean – is it sinking or rising? “It could be either,” says Kumar, who titled this work simply C. “It’s about seeing things as it is, an awakening of sorts.”

(Report sourced from Mumbai Boss)

Durga, The Bonding of a Dream, The Iran Issue and more..

NEWS

The Bonding of Dream

( Work on display)

Gallery Space, Hyderabad presents an art exhibition of Samir Sarkar paintings that are all about creating shapes using different colors. The show is titled, ‘The Bonding of Dream’. This artist does not use any particular lines but his art works are all about using colors to achieve a desired result. The canvases look spectacular and they do express a plethora of thoughts and emotions.

The works rendered in figurative style and vibrant colors feature human figures in various actions like musicians etc.

The show is on view from 12th to 20th March 2014.

Durga

( Work on display)

The Gallery, Gurgaon invites art lovers for a special exhibition, ‘Durga – Dynamics of power, gender bias and a story of Widows in India’ by the experienced photographer, designer and art director Sharmistha Dutta. The show was launched on Women’s Day and will go on till the last week of March.

The exhibition celebrates Sharmistha’s latest works; a collection of photographs that highlight the emergence of women in India comparing them with the deity Durga. On the day of inauguration, there was a special preview of spring summer collection of Amyra by fashion designer Preeti Ghai over wine and cheese.

The show is on view till 29th March 2014.

The Iran Issue

(Work on display)

Studio 21, Kolkata presents ‘The Iran Issue’, a group show and printed quarterly comprising of 14 established and upcoming Iranian photographers, working within and outside Iran. The images include documentary and fictional narratives as well as art photography. The issue seeks to show Iran's connection with South Asian countries by dealing with varying aspects of democracy.

The photographs investigate notions of amnesia, censorship and identity through documentary, as well as staged formats. The ideas underlying the works range from encounters with the state, to a re-assessment of one’s personal life.

The show is on view till 29th March 2014.

Retrospective on Indian Cinema

( work on display)

The Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre (HICC), in collaboration with the Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi, and curator Nupur Tron, present a photo exhibition named ‘Retrospective on Indian Cinema’. 

To mark the occasion of the centenary of Indian cinema this year, the photo exhibition will be showcasing several iconic and many never-before-seen images of actors, scenes, sets and locations during the filming of Satyajit Ray’s films as well as the filmmaker at work, taken over a twenty-five year period, as well as an array of images of regional films and actors.

The show is on view till 19th March 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Life and dreams

Renuka Sondhi Gulati’s exhibition “The Phoenix Woman” exhorts women to pursue their aspirations while fulfilling their responsibilities

( Work by Renuka Sondhi Gulati)

Strong lines and soft colours; realistic drawings and abstract backgrounds; details and simplicity; busts mostly of women, at any age, with their lives and their feelings are all components of the exhibition “The Phoenix Woman” by artist Renuka Sondhi Gulati at Shridharani Gallery.

Renuka’s paintings and sculptures represent women of all ages, from childhood to old age. The message behind these figures is strong and simple: that time goes by, life goes on, but we are always there and there are no loopholes. One has to accept with serenity the flow of time and understand that what one does is the true beauty of life. The simplicity of her work is vivid. Renuka’s aim is to create an art which is easy to relate to, in which subjects are not overwhelmed by too many decorations. “The painting must speak,” she says. At the same time, however, her figures are very detailed and are evidence of an in-depth study of the representation of the human figure.

Metal elements often accompany her representations, and metal is seen as a metaphysical element that brings one back to reality: a symbol of the difficulty of freeing our thoughts and our dreams. The contemporary society with its needs and its commitments, affects women’s lives more than men. They are often expected to be good mothers and good housewives, taking care of the needs of the children and the family. A woman, in most of the cases, has to be stronger than a man to achieve her dreams. A man on the contrary will not be considered a bad father even he works all day and gives priority to his career while delegating family care to his wife.

When Renuka realised that art was her future, she knew she could not let her being a wife and mother prevent her from pursuing her passion. She understood that only a happy and successful woman can be a happy and successful mother and wife too; hence she began to practice, study and work hard. Her life and art have important messages for younger generations, especially women: do not let the roles prescribed by society stop you from dreaming and realise your ambitions — all it requires is hard work and dedication.

The exhibition continues till March 16, Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg, Mandi House, New Delhi, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

( Report by Daniele Pagani for The Hindu)